During the 19th century, cholera was the pandemic par excellence. In the specific case of Salamanca, it caused three major mortality crises in 1834, 1855 and 1885. Due to their disruptive effects on the course of life, cholera epidemics had a great impact on the societies of the time. This disease is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which we now know is transmitted through the ingestion of contaminated water or food. The development of mortality in Salamanca is summarised in this graph, where parish deaths show an upward trend linked to population growth. The main peaks of the three cholera epidemics of 1834, 1855 and 1885-86 are striking, where a significant proportion of the deaths, 35% on average, were not recorded in the parishes. However, the first two epidemics were much more intense, about 8 on the Dupâquier scale, and with a Del Panta and Livi-Bacci index implying more than twice as many deaths as expected. In comparison, the 1885 epidemic is less intense, with an excess mortality of 56% and a Dupâquier index below 3. Thus, the absolute excess mortality would be at its highest in 1855, over 700 deaths, compared to around 600 in 1834 and around 400 in 1885.
Collection: Statistics
Project: 3. Rural world and urban world in the formation of the European identity., 4. Family, daily life and social inequality in Europe.
Chronology: XIX
Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, University
Link: https://adeh.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/RDH-JIPS-2020-n3_6_Ortega-y-GMoro.pdf
Resource type: Statistics
Format: Table
Source: Ortega, José Antonio y García–Moro, Clara, «El cólera en Salamanca: análisis comparado de las epidemias del siglo XIX», Revista de Demografía Histórica, vol. 38, nº3, 2020, pp. 125–154.
Language: Spanish
Date: 2020
Owner: Álvaro Romero González (Modernalia)
Copyright: ©José Antonio Ortega, ©Clara García-Moro, ©Revista de Demografía Histórica
Abstract: Study of deaths in different parishes in Salamanca during the cholera epidemics that devastated the city in 1834, 1855 and 1885
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